Huge, snowcapped, breathtaking mountains… covered in perfect, bright, semi-transparent dots? YES! These large scale paintings {and two drawings on mylar near the top} are the work of Canadian artist David Pirrie. He grew up in British Columbia {as did I}, and these mountains were his playground. I’ve seen these rocky beauties in person… now I need to see these huge, gorgeous paintings in person! Love, love, love.

{Thanks to Jessica G. for sending me a link to David’s work}

Oh. Where to begin? The flowers? The detail? The golden bowls hidden inside of those amazing ceramic orbs? GAH!!! These are the stunning pieces of Japanese-born, London based artist Hitomi Hosono. Here is her description of this beautiful work:

“The subjects of my current porcelain work are shapes inspired by leaves and flowers. I study botanical forms in the garden. I find myself drawn to the intricacy of plants, examining the veins of a leaf, how its edges are shaped, the layering of a flower’s petals. I look, I touch, I draw.”

I love her black & white work {obviously} but she is currently creating a new, colorful series… pop over to designboom to have a look at those gorgeous pieces.

Oh my word. I wish so much that I lived in Bethnal Green, east London, so that I could pop into this newly transformed cornershop! Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING {even the cash register!} is made of felt! British artist Lucy Sparrow has taken a rundown storefront, and turned it into a completely stocked “felt” market {just under 4000 items!}… felt chips, felt beer, felt magazines, felt canned ravioli, felt candy, felt ketchup, felt popsicles… ok, I’m sure you get it, but it’s all just so awesome, I feel like I should make a little grocery list! Speaking of awesome, this quote by Lucy is just about perfect:

“I’m very obsessive and I want that to come across in the work and get people thinking ‘Who would be crazy enough to do this?'”

Yep. We’re all thinkin’ it! This crazy little shop is open for business until August 31… GO!!!!!! ps. if  you aren’t in London, you can also visit her online shop!

{Open every day from 10am – 7pm : 19 Wellington Row, London : via The MIRROR}

Celebrating artists? Oh, I can do that! GREAT.LY is knee deep in the middle of a campaign, called #makegood. You’ll see that hashtag around a lot in the next few weeks as a whole bunch of GREAT.LY tastemakers will be working together to shine the spotlight on their favorite makers. I’m on a little team of artsy tastemakers, and just to make it extra fun for ourselves, we’ve decided to do a “summer lovin” theme! So… One of my faves + Summer Lovin? Clearly I’m going to be writing about Portland based artist Lisa Golightly:

I have “hung” all of these pieces in my online gallery, and I literally cannot pick a favorite {can you?!}. Lisa is so lovely, as is her work and the inspiration behind it:

So, so gorgeous. Check out the posts written by my “summer lovin” team:  Artsy Forager // Bird + Beau // Mai Autumn … and #makegood by supporting independent artists & makers, like Lisa, whenever you can! Happy weekend xo

Traditional quilt patterns {and a few exotic animals}… with a modern hand-cut ‘n painted paper twist! I am always in awe of precise, intricate hand-cut work {this is when you should scroll back up and have a closer look at that first black & cream piece… I’ll wait} So gorgeous, yes?! Ahhh, the collages of San Francisco based artist Lena Wolff. Love.

{Some of this work is part of a group show at CULT in San Francisco – up now until August 2, 2014}

Whenever I don’t have a post lined up for the next morning, I pop over to Saatchi Art and search for “portraits”… I am never ever disappointed! So when Saatchi reached out and asked if I’d be interested in curating a selection of work, I said Um, YES! They asked me to pick 10 ~ 20 pieces in any theme that interested me. Yeah, you guessed it, I went with all portraits all the time! Here’s my curatorial statement:

Oh, portraits. There are two main reasons why I love them so much. One: I am always in awe of how such a familiar, every day subject (a person!) can be handled so differently depending on the artist. Washy and mysterious. Unbelievably realistic. Partially complete, allowing your mind to fill in the rest. And two: Um… it’s hard! To capture the likeness of a person in a few brushstrokes or pencil lines? Yes sir, that’s tricky, and I admire anyone that can do it… like these fourteen artists, for example:

This is when you pop over to Saatchi to see the entire collection! I hope you love it as much as I loved putting it together… and thanks so much to Saatchi for inviting me over. I’m so honored that you’d ask.

{Art above by: 1) Hyunju Kim  2) Christopher Stacey  3) Pawel Mendrek  4) Karoline Kroiß  5) Miguel Laino  6) An Siying}

Boy oh boy, if you love birds… and paper-cutting… then you are so set! This is the work of French artist Marine Coutroutsios, who now lives in Sydney Australia. These beautifully composed papery/feathery sculptures are her ode to the crazy colorful cockatoos that she happily shares her new city with. Gorgeous.

*Quick! This work is in a show that is coming down on Saturday June 14th, so get over to He Made She Made in Sydney [70 Oxford St, Darlinghurst] quick as bird!

CONGRATULATIONS to Erika Rier… a copy of this lovely book is coming your way! {thanks to everyone that entered… and I hope that some of you made it to MoMA yesterday for the event on the lawn!}

I love this, probably because I love New York based artist/illustrator Maira Kalman so much, not to mention my love for vintage photographs of girls standing on lawns… oh, and would you look at that, that’s the name of the beautiful book that Maira Kalman and writer Daniel Handler {a.k.a. Lemony Snicket} created together! The first, very poetic, page reads:

One morning
we found some photographs.
One morning
these girls stood on lawns.
We looked at the pictures,
and we got to work.
There’s no use standing around.
You should do something.
This is the whole thing.

That really is the whole thing, isn’t it… LOVE! On Sunday, June 1 at MoMA {who actually published this little gem}, Maira Kalman and Daniel Handler will celebrate their new book, Girls Standing on Lawns, with a garden party featuring 1930s-style Parisian jazz from the Hot Club of Flatbush. From 3-5 p.m. in The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden. {Free with Museum admission}

ps. I have a copy of this book for myself, and… I have one to give away! Leave a comment below and I’ll draw one name on Monday morning at 8am PST. Good luck!

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Do you remember when I wrote about American artist Anna Jensen a few months ago? Anywho, right after I wrote about her, I received an email from a gallery in Paris asking me to put them in touch with her… because they want to give Anna her first show in Paris this July! How amazing is that?! I’m not sure who is more excited, me or Anna!

Now, that’s where we all come in. Anna can’t afford to ship all of her work (and herself for that matter) to France, so she’s launched a kickstarter campaign. She’s a little over half way to her $3200 goal with 22 days left to go. If you can help that would be amazing… we HAVE to get her to Paris, right? IT’S PARIS, for crying out loud! Merci beaucoup xx

Is it wrong that these paintings of hair are making me crave ice cream? So many dreamy, creamy colors all melting into each other to create these gorgeous studies of hair! This is the work of Canadian artist Jaclyn Conley, who happens to be the featured artist on Buy Some Damn Art at the moment. Ok now I want to buy some damn art, and some damn strawberry ice cream with a side of butterscotch! So, so lovely.